I’m traveling in Europe for a bit, and spent an enjoyable few days at Lake Maggiore.  While I’ll have more in depth posts after I return home and have a chance to marshal my thoughts, I’ll be posting a few photos and quick thoughts from the road.
Lake Maggiore isn’t the largest of the Italian Lakes, but it is the longest, stretching about 40 miles from Sesto Calende at the Italian end to Magadino at the Swiss end.  The east side of the lake is in the Lombardy region and the west in Piedmonte.  The lake area is considered pre-Alp, and …read more

Today I have a guest post from Leyla Giray from Backpacking Women on the Road. 
Now I know what you must be thinking. . . “MJ, you’re not a backpacker.”  Well, that might be true enough, but there’s all sorts of things backpackers can teach the rest of us about travel, and one of those things is how to enjoy things off the beaten path — like spending a day is the French countryside.
 
 
Not south enough to be Provence, nor north enough to be Alsace or the Vosges, this tiny corner of France hides between two massive mountain ranges …read more

In case you’re a new reader, or maybe because you just don’t have a good feel for my personality yet, I want to point out that I’m a warm weather kind of gal.  You will likely find this preference to be a continuing theme in my writing.
Oh sure, I think snow and ice are beautiful, providing a magical kind of feel to everything.  But it’s a feeling best experienced (by me at least) from the comfort and warmth of indoors looking out.
Another of my “endearing” personality traits is curiosity.  I like checking things out for myself, trying new places and …read more

Here’s a article from my pal, and Formula One blogger, Geoff Collins.  Geoff lives in Switzerland, and has graciously offered to provide the occasional European travel news.
 
Maggiore lies between Switzerland and Italy, with the lake forming the border at the northeastern end, however, virtually all of the shoreline is in Italy. (Even in the Swiss part the local language is Italian. Most people think that French is the main language in Switzerland, but in fact it is German, with approximately 20% of the population speaking French and another 20% speaking Italian.)
The towns around Maggiore are extremely picturesque, and the road …read more

This week’s interview is with Geoff Collins, a writer and blogger on the topic of Formula One racing.  He’s also a heck of a nice guy, and we have great email conversations.  Geoff recently did some traveling in Europe, and he has graciously offered to provide me with some reviews of his travels.  Look for that in the coming weeks.
 
Current location:  Zurich, Switzerland.
Where did you go on your last vacation:  Vacations are often spent in the UK visiting family and friends.  Last autumn we spent some time in Devon and Cornwall, the south west of England, which has great beaches …read more